As Found Houses

In rural China, an informal wave of building catalysed by economic and social developments has rendered some villages unrecognisable. This building boom, taking place in a context of limited regulations, has created densities more often found in urban areas. At the same time, the rapid transformation of rural villages has generated some remarkable hybrid experiments where rural...

In rural China, an informal wave of building catalysed by economic and social developments has rendered some villages unrecognisable. This building boom, taking place in a context of limited regulations, has created densities more often found in urban areas. At the same time, the rapid transformation of rural villages has generated some remarkable hybrid experiments where rural builders use generic construction methods to adapt, modify, graft, cleave and wrap traditional vernacular typologies. These typologies have existed for hundreds of years and represent an accretion of localised building knowledge and cultural identity. Where often these typologies are preserved and maintained as tourist destinations, this book looks at those instances where families transform them to account for new ways of living.

By looking closely at these transformations, As Found Houses identifies innovative, informal design responses that negotiate between traditional housing forms and the changing conditions of the rural village. The book presents the intelligent and surprising solutions applied to house typologies conceived by builders in 4 regions of rural China. Using photographs, axonometric drawings and interviews with the villagers who live in these hybrid experiments, the book situates design solutions within the context of their larger human narratives, thereby challenging ossified understandings of vernacular architecture that treat historical and cultural tradition as static.

The book argues that the manifold evolution of the vernacular is part of the every-day practice of the villagers' lives, and that architecture for them is very much still a home. As Found Houses is a guide to the surprising design decisions found in the domestic architecture of rural China and a resource for thinking about contemporary design.

林君翰，香港大学建筑系教授，创立了非营利研究和设计合作事务所“城村架构”，致力中国乡村的建筑设计工作，完成的多个获奖项目包括：湖南保靖昂洞基层慈善卫生院、四川巴中金台村重建项目、云南双河村公共图书馆与社区中心等。

索尼·德瓦巴克图尼，香港大学建筑系助理教授，研究集中在建 筑解决文化、社会、政治和经济问题的能力。

王晶晶，中国科学技术大学翻译硕士，译著包括《二战全纪实：叛逆的帝国》《阳光终将闪耀：温哥华冬奥会主席约翰·福隆自述》等。